The Center for Community Engagement

The Center for Community Engagement at SUNY Cobleskill is responsible for developing partnerships that integrate campus and regional resources in a collaborative effort to meet the needs of the community. The emphasis is on creating opportunities to engage our students, faculty, staff and community partners in service projects and educational initiatives that provide meaningful learning outcomes for our students and tangible benefits for our partners. In delivering on this mission, The Center for Community Engagement serves as a focal point that sources projects, allocates resources, compiles assessment data, and promotes the value of community engagement.

Empty Bowls are overflowing! The fourth annual Empty Bowls event was a huge success! Over $6,900 was raised for Schoharie County food pantries, a new record well above the goal of $5,000. Events like these are not possible without a lot of support and a fully engaged partner like SUNY Cobleskill. Thanks SGA for sponsoring the event. Thanks also to the 9 clubs and 50 student volunteers, along with members of the Student Life Center, CAS, Culinary, and Facilities whose collaboration helped make the event shine. Thanks also to the 26 participating restaurants who donated soup, the local businesses that donated raffle prizes, the musicians for providing such wonderful entertainment, and the Girl Scouts and other community volunteers who helped with logistics. Thanks also to the members of the public who gave so generously to help make a difference in the lives of those in need.

Conference on Volunteerism: The Center for Community Engagement, in partnership with SUNY Delhi and SUNY Oneonta, hosted the 14th Annual Conference on Volunteerism and Social Responsibility. Twenty Cobleskill students joined their peers at Delhi and Oneonta for a day of “Funshops” on topics including homelessness, animal rights, help for the mentally disabled, and leadership development. A special thanks goes out to dining services which donated supplies to make 350 PB&J Sandwiches for the homeless.

Coby Volunteers Rock! Coby students got a jump on the fall semester with a series of large scale service projects that were completed prior to the start of classes! Leading the way was Res Life whose 73 RA’s and 10 staff members traveled to the Patroon Farm in Altamont to help process sweet potatoes and beets for use by the Northeast Regional Food Bank. Hot on their heels was a group of 47 orientation leaders who donated an afternoon of service to help spruce up Veterans Memorial Center Park with some weeding and painting projects. Not to be outdone, 43 Merits Students and their advisers completed five service projects including playground maintenance at Head Start, dog walking at the Animal Shelter and planting new trees at Vroman. Then, to top things off, 88 students participated in the Center for Community Engagement’s 5th Annual Community Engagement Day where teams of volunteers tackled nine different service projects including maintenance at the Landis Arboretum, painting at the local youth center, and a car wash which netted $225 for a local veteran’s flood restoration project. Thanks to all who participated in helping launch, what is shaping up to be the best year ever for community engagement! Coby Volunteers Rock!!!

Tiger Run for Autism: Hats off to our Senior RA's and Veterans Affairs' Team Red, White and Blue for organizing the first ever Tiger Run 5K for Autism. More than 340 runners from the campus and community participated and $4,000 was raised for the fight against Autism.

SUNY Cobleskill Wins National Service Award: SUNY Cobleskill was the proud recipient of the 2014 Service Engagement Award from APCA, a 400 member, national organization for the promotion of campus activities. This much coveted award honors the school that best demonstrates a commitment to innovative and sustained community service. Many thanks to the all of the dedicated students, faculty and staff who made reaching this milestone possible. You really make SUNY Cobleskill shine.

Alternative Spring Break: SUNY Cobleskill's first ever ASB saw a team of six students and their adviser spend a week in Newark, NJ in support of United Way sponsored youth programing at the Boys & Girls Club. This transformative event changed the lives of those who participated, giving them a firsthand look at the enormous challenges facing today's inner city kids and an appreciation for the dedication of those working to make a difference on a day to day basis.

Martin Luther King Six Days of Service: Honor the Man, Honor the Message: SUNY Cobleskill’s MLK 6 Days of Service initiative wrapped up on Friday, January 31st and the results were impressive indeed. Over 160 faculty, staff and student volunteers participated. Projects included serving meals in the dining halls and making Boo Boo Bunnies for sick children. In addition, 132 pints of blood were donated to the Red Cross, 350 individual lasagna dinners were delivered to the Albany Homeless Shelter, and 150 boxes of food were sorted and packaged at the North East Regional Food Bank. EOP and the Center for Community Engagement would like to thank all the volunteers who made this year’s MLK Day projects such a huge success.

Feed the Need: Our annual food drive set a new record! 4,119 lbs of food was collected and donated to area food pantries! What a wonderfully collaborative effort on the part of Dinning Services, Res Life, student volunteers, and area businesses who helped establish this new benchmark.

SUNY's Holiday Spirit Warms the Heart: Students, faculty and staff stepped up big time to support those in need during the holidays. Sixteen families were supplied with holiday gifts in partnership with Head Start's "Adopt a Family" program. Thanks to all for your help in making the holidays shine a little brighter.

Empty Bowls are Overflowing: Hats off to the Student Government Association for their leadership and all the campus volunteers who helped make this year’s Empty Bowls event a huge success! This broad based partnership to combat hunger speaks to the heart of community engagement and exemplifies the enormous power of leveraging campus resources with those of the community. Over 700 bowls were fabricated and $4,100 was raised to support local food pantries.

SUNY Student Wins Essay Contest: The Center for Community Engagement would like to recognize Meghan Trigg for submitting the winning essay in a three way competition with SUNY Delhi and SUNY Oneonta. Meghan's work on the theme, "How Helping Others Helps Me" took the first place prize of a new Kindle Fire. Way to go Meghan!

The Center for Community Engagement is administered by Director Brian Kaiser, who is supported by student assistants and an advisory board consisting of faculty, staff, and community representatives.